I am trying to find out more about Honors Programs.
D is graduating HS early and applying to our local CC in CA with an idea of transferring to one of the UC’s in 2 years. She has really great grades and will be accepted there, but I am unsure if it is the best way for her as they seem to stress an interdisciplinary approach and humanities. My daughter wants to major in Biology and transfer into Biology later. I know that honor program has many of the advantages and opportunities, but am still unsure. At this point, we have an app with the counseling office to discuss it but wanted to ask for everybody’s opinion. I am not sure what kind of questions to ask. I see a lot of different pathways. There is something called “TAG”.There is an Articulation Agreement by Major. I looked at various option at ASSIST http://www2.assist.org/exploring-majors/findNearbyCollegesDiscipline.do, but still am feeling lost…Any advice is appreciated!
Articulation agreements by major and UC/CSU campus at http://www.assist.org show which courses she needs to prepare for her major, though these will not completely fill her schedule for two years. Separate listings exist on that web site show courses by IGETC category so that she can cover general education requirements before transfer. The CC’s honors program courses presumably fulfill some of these IGETC categories.
TAG = transfer acceptance guarantee at a designated UC if she maintains a high enough GPA and completes the needed course work.
My D transferred from our local CC to UCSD under IGETC. D did not participate in the honors program although she was asked to each semester because of her high GPA. Your D will need to use assist.org to determine which classes she needs for her major and to fulfill the IGETC requirements for the UCs. As long as your D does well in her classes at the CC and keeps her GPA up she should be able to transfer to the UC of her choice.
I was in the Honors program at SMC. I loved it! The professors were hand picked, the classes were smaller, the counelors were FANTASTIC, and it was a generally great thing. The biggest plus however, was that it was a UCLA TAP program, which meant I received priority consideration for UCLA admissions.
If you have any more questions, try here: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/uc-transfers/
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She just informed me that she would like to do dual enrollment next year and graduate from both HS and our local CC in 2018, then transfer to one of the UC's (we are in CA)
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Ok…you need some things clarified…
If your DD will be going to a CC while in High school, she will not be using TAG or “transferring” to a UC.
During her last year of high school, she will apply to UC as an incoming frosh, and then when accepted, she’ll be given junior status because of her AA.
This way, she’ll have the best chances for aid, scholarships, etc.
Transfers don’t get scholarships like “incoming frosh” can.
@ mom2collegekids My DD WILL NOT be going to CC while in HS. We won’t be getting any scholarship. Two years spent in the cheap CC plus two years of her life saved in the long process working towards MD is the best “scholarship” for me…
To clarify, I know I wrote “dual enrollment” initially, just to quote what my DD said.It doesn’t make sense to me at all. She will graduate, then she will enroll into CC.
^^This is the best place to ask. If the CC your daughter plans to attend has good counseling, they will be very familiar with the transfer process and the prospects of their graduates at the various UC campuses.
Be very sure that your daughter checks in with a Transfer counselor at the CC prior to registering for any classes.
The UC’s and CSU’s have different requirements for admission and so be VERY clear with the counselor what your daughters transfer goals are, which should dictate any and all classes she selects.
Additionally, there are many specific majors - including BIO - where she will not be able (or encouraged) to fulfill the traditional 2-year IGETC pathway. Be sure that she is tracking the transfer path for her specific major, rather than a 2-year general IGETC admission or AA completion path.
My D is at a California Community College. They have ongoing workshops on UC Transfer Procedures which are held all year (30 workshops scheduled at various times of the day just for the month of September). They have an entire department for transfer services and a 5-week class covering all transfer procedures (UC’s, CSU’s, AA/AS-T, TAG, articulation agreements, privates, out of state, etc). Check out your community college’s calendar and run a check on their search engine to see what services they provide for transferring.
My niece went to medical school after starting her education at a California CC. It took her longer to finish (almost 5 years) due to some transfer issues – and because she took all her core med school requirements at the UC. (Most med schools did NOT want the core pre-med requirements done at a community college.) That was a few years ago (niece is now a 2nd year resident) so your daughter should verify this, but in general she should be very careful about the classes she takes at the CC and at the UC. She should also keep in mind the medicine-related ECs encouraged by med schools. I would suggest your daughter to get involved in them right away, since once she transfers to the UCs, and has to concentrate on keeping up a very high GPA, she may have less time to devote to the ECs.
@katliamom “she took all her core med school requirements at the UC.”
did you mean to say that she took her core med school requirements at the CC?
Beware also that some medical schools may not want some of the premed core to be completed in community college (some assume the classes will be less rigorous than at a CC).
Why not take advantage of dual enrollment though? CC would be free and the classes would count toward advanced standing at a UC, she wouldn’t really be attending HS but she’d still be considered for Regents like all freshman (albeit one with sophomore or junior standing) and she wouldn’t have to worry about major requirements, IGETCs, TAG, etc.)
All in all however if your daughter’s goal is to transfer to a UC, the honors program will place her with academic peers, smaller classes, and better odds of success for the top-tier UCs.
Note that the premed core includes the following:
2 semesters each of Biology, Chemistry, English, Physics+ 1 semester each of organic chemistry, biochemistry, calculus, statistics, sociology, psychology, a diversity-focused class, perhaps neuroscience, and preferably a foreign language spoken by immigrants (can be Spanish, French Creole, Russian, Arabic, Urdu…)
Premeds do NOT have to major in biology.
UCRiverside is easy to get into and has special pathways for the health professions.
I have another question:
In the ASSIST there is an area which shows Majors/Campuses Matrix.
The Majors / Campuses Matrix shows the university campuses that have a major in the discipline selected for each community college selected. All available majors are displayed for the discipline.
This matrix also provides links to articulation agreements.
“Click a major name to learn more about that major. Click MP (major prep) to display major preparation course articulation between the corresponding college and university.”
I am including only 3 UC’s for shortness, just to show the differences. I selected our local CC and Biology major.
Could any of you explain what exactly “MP” and “NA” mean in each case ? Shouldn’t there be an agreement between CC and Irvine as in TAG for Biological Sciences? - (NA)?
What am I not understanding?
UC Campus Major Name on Campus
Berkeley Chemical Biology B.S. MP
Integrative Biology B.A. MP
Microbial Biology B.S. MP
Davis Animal Biology B.S. MP
Anthropology B.S. MP
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology B.S. MP
Biological Sciences A.B. MP
Biological Sciences B.S. MP
Biotechnology B.S. MP
Cell Biology B.S. MP
Evolution, Ecology and Biodiversity A.B. MP
Evolution, Ecology and Biodiversity B.S. MP
Genetics and Genomics B.S. MP
Global Disease Biology B.S. MP
Marine and Coastal Science B.S. (Marine Ecology and Organismal Biology) MP
Marine and Coastal Science B.S. (Marine Environmental Chemistry) MP
Microbiology A.B. MP
Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior B.S. MP
Plant Biology A.B. MP
Plant Sciences B.S. MP
Statistics A.B. MP
Statistics B.S. (Applied Statistics Option) MP
Statistics B.S. (Computational Statistics Option) MP
Statistics B.S. (General Statistics Option) MP
Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology B.S. MP
Irvine Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, B.S. NA
Biological Sciences, B.S. NA
Biology/Education, B.S. NA
Developmental and Cell Biology, B.S. NA
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, B.S. NA
Genetics, B.S. NA
Neurobiolgy,B.S. NA
Pharmaceutical Sciences, B.S. NA
Los Angeles Biology B.S. NA
Ecology, Behavior and Evolution B.S. NA
Human Biology and Society(Pre) B.A. NA
Human Biology and Society(Pre)B.S. NA
Marine Biology B.S. NA
Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics(Pre)B.S. NA
Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology B.S. NA
Neuroscience B.S. NA
Physiological Science B.S. NA
Psychobiology(Pre)B.S. NA
@MYOS1634 My daughter is in online school which doesn’t approve dual enrollments…
Can she register at her local public HS for the purpose of completing DE, or would that be too much of a bother?
Yeah, too much to bother…we left public school for good…
No, @Lanaana - niece took all her hard sciences and other med school prerequisites at the University of California, knowing that’s what med schools prefer and some require.
I must be having a brain freeze - what was wrong with having hard classes at the UC if the med school didn’t want them to be done at the CC?
There wasn’t anything wrong – I only brought it up so your daughter is aware that taking, for example, organic chemistry at the CC may not be in her best interest since med schools prefer it’s done at the university level. My niece did have some transfer issues with a couple other classes she took at the CC – which is odd since she was in a CC with an agreement with the UC.